SOC 2 Readiness Assessment

Assess readiness for a SOC 2 Type II audit. This skill walks through the Trust Services Criteria, identifies gaps, maps to NIST controls, and generates a prioritized remediation plan.

Security Model

• No scripts executed — markdown-only procedural guidance
• No secrets required — works with reference checklists
• IP-clean — AICPA Trust Services Criteria are publicly cited; descriptions are original writing
• Evidence stays local — all collection outputs go to local filesystem

When to Use

Activate this skill when:

1. First SOC 2 preparation — building controls from scratch for initial Type I or Type II
2. Pre-audit readiness check — 4-8 weeks before audit window opens
3. Gap analysis after scope change — new systems, services, or trust criteria added
4. Remediation planning — translating audit findings into actionable work items
5. Dual-framework mapping — already pursuing ISO 27001 and need SOC 2 overlap analysis

Do NOT use for:

• ISO 27001 internal audit — use iso-27001-internal-audit
• Evidence collection mechanics — use iso-27001-evidence-collection
• Contract review — use legal agreement skills

Core Concepts

Trust Services Criteria (TSC)

SOC 2 is organized around 5 Trust Services Categories. Security (CC) is always in scope; others are optional based on your service:

SOC 2 vs. ISO 27001

Decision Tree: Scope Selection

What service are you getting audited on?
├── SaaS product → Security + Availability (+ Confidentiality if you handle sensitive data)
├── Data processing → Security + Processing Integrity + Confidentiality
├── Infrastructure → Security + Availability
├── API service → Security (+ PI if you transform data)
│
Do you handle PII?
├── YES → Add Privacy category
├── NO → Skip Privacy
│
Do you have uptime SLAs?
├── YES → Include Availability
├── NO → Optional (but customers expect it for SaaS)

Step-by-Step Workflow

Step 1: Define Scope and Categories

1. Identify the service being audited (product name, description, boundaries)
2. Select Trust Services Categories using the decision tree above
3. Define system boundaries: infrastructure, software, people, procedures, data
4. Document sub-service organizations (cloud providers, payment processors, etc.)
5. Determine audit type: Type I (point-in-time) or Type II (period of time, usually 6-12 months)

Step 2: Assess Current State

For each applicable Common Criterion (CC), assess whether controls are:

• Designed — control exists on paper
• Implemented — control is operating
• Effective — control achieves its objective (evidence exists)

# If Internal ISO Audit MCP server is available (SOC 2 maps to ISO 27001 Annex A):
list_controls(domain="technological")                       # List tech controls (maps to CC 6-8)
get_control_guidance(control_id="A.5.15")                   # Get guidance for ISO control mapped from CC 6.1
get_nist_mapping(control_id="AC-2", direction="nist_to_iso")  # Find ISO controls from NIST reference
search_guidance(query="incident response")                  # Search for controls matching SOC 2 criteria

Step 3: Map Controls to Criteria

Each CC maps to specific NIST controls. Use this mapping to identify what you need:

CC 1 — Control Environment

CC 2 — Communication and Information

CC 3 — Risk Assessment

CC 4 — Monitoring Activities

CC 5 — Control Activities

CC 6 — Logical and Physical Access

CC 7 — System Operations

CC 8 — Change Management

CC 9 — Risk Mitigation

Step 4: Generate Gap Analysis

For each criterion, document:

## Gap: [CC x.x] — [Brief description]

**Current State**: [What exists today]
**Required State**: [What the auditor expects]
**Gap**: [What's missing]
**Remediation**:
1. [Specific action item]
2. [Specific action item]
**Priority**: Critical / High / Medium / Low
**Effort**: [Days/weeks to remediate]
**Owner**: [Person responsible]
**Evidence Needed**: [What to collect after fix]

Step 5: Build Remediation Plan

Prioritize gaps by:

1. Critical — Audit will fail without this (CC 6.1, 6.2, 7.2, 7.5, 8.1)
2. High — Likely finding if not addressed (CC 1.4, 3.2, 6.6, 7.3)
3. Medium — Auditor will note but may not be a finding
4. Low — Best practice, not strictly required

Step 6: Readiness Report

Generate a structured readiness assessment:

1. Executive summary — overall readiness percentage, estimated time to audit-ready
2. Scope — service description, trust categories, audit type
3. Control matrix — all applicable criteria with status (designed/implemented/effective)
4. Gap analysis — prioritized list of gaps with remediation plan
5. Timeline — remediation milestones leading to audit window

Quick Reference: Top SOC 2 Failures

DO / DON’T

DO

• Start with Security (CC) criteria — they’re always required and cover ~80% of effort
• Map to ISO 27001 if pursuing both frameworks — ~70% control overlap
• Collect evidence throughout the audit period, not just at audit time
• Include sub-service organizations in your description
• Define the audit period before starting evidence collection

DON’T

• Include trust categories you can’t support — better to pass on fewer than fail on more
• Assume Type I is “easy” — it requires all controls to be designed and implemented
• Forget the system description — auditors review this first and use it to scope their testing
• Use generic/template control descriptions — auditors expect your controls to match your actual environment
• Ignore complementary user entity controls (CUECs) — your customers need to know their responsibilities

Troubleshooting

Rules

For detailed SOC 2-specific guidance:

Attribution

SOC 2 criteria mapping and readiness procedures developed with Internal ISO Audit (Hazel Castro, ISO 27001 Lead Auditor, 14+ years, 100+ audits).

Runtime Detection

1. Internal ISO Audit MCP server available (best) — Live ISO 27001 control guidance with NIST cross-references. SOC 2 criteria map to ISO 27001 Annex A controls (~70% overlap); use get_nist_mapping for bidirectional lookup. Server: internalisoaudit.com/api/mcp
2. Local compliance data available (good) — Reads compliance/ directory with SOC 2 test metadata
3. Reference only (baseline) — Uses embedded criteria mapping and checklists in rules/

Connectors

For Internal ISO Audit MCP server setup, see CONNECTORS.md.